by J. H. Croix
Fun didn’t quite capture how it felt to kiss the lovely Olivia. Scalding hot and mind-bending was more like it. Something about her hit me in a strange way. The moment she’d said sex was boring, it was as if she’d poured gas on a fire. I loved a challenge and I’d be damned if I’d let Olivia pass me by. All on her own she was a challenge, but she’d thrown down the gauntlet with that. There was nothing I liked more than a challenge. Then, I’d gone and kissed her. I’d kept it together and managed to tease her afterwards, but I felt as if I’d been knocked back on my heels ever since.
Honestly, I’d felt knocked back on my heels since my mum died. It had been three months now and I didn’t know when I’d feel right again. My family was tight. We always had been. I was the oldest of three boys. Mum called us stair steps with me oldest at twenty-eight, Carter at twenty-seven and Leo at twenty-six. My dad was still alive and kicking, but he’d been hit hard by my mum’s death too. My parents had met in grammar school and he’d teased her mercilessly, so she hated him. Then, they ended up at university together and fell mad in love. Her stroke had been like a bolt of lightning in our family. I was still reverberating from the electrifying shock.
The one thing that gave me solace was playing football, so I’d insisted on playing in the next few games back in England. I’d pulled through until the last game when I was just plain out of it. I missed a few crucial passes and we lost. Next thing I knew, my agent notified me of the best offer on the table from the Seattle Stars. I glanced over at Alex who turned away from the windows and caught my eye.
“How’s the knee?” Alex asked.
His question annoyed me, but only because it reminded me of my current state. Sidelined from playing for a few months at best.
“A bit better than yesterday.”
He nodded slowly. “Dr. Bowen seems nice enough.”
The feel of Olivia’s lips under mine flashed through my brain. Nice was one way to put it. “That she does. Dr. Monroe swears she’s the best surgeon around.”
Alex grinned. “He had his knickers in a bit of a twist over her asking him to leave. I told him to roll with it.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. Since we’d only been with the Stars for a little over a month, I was still getting a feel for the team management. Dr. Monroe was wound tight and struck me as the kind of man accustomed to people following his orders. Olivia hadn’t given a damn about his orders, and I liked it. “I could tell. I think he thought she’d cave when he got pushy, but she didn’t.”
Alex’s gaze sobered. “Anything new from her when you talked?”
“Nah. She said the tear’s not too bad and seems confident I’ll be back to myself in a few months. She’s as bossy as him. Gave me a little lecture on doing my physical therapy after my surgery,” I said with a grin.
Alex finished off his coffee and winked. “Not so sure it’s a brilliant plan to flirt with your doctor, mate.”
I’d been born a flirt and Alex damn well knew it. I eyed him and shrugged. “You know me. Can’t help myself sometimes.”
Alex stood and stretched before walking to the sink and setting his empty coffee cup inside. He had practice in a bit, which sent anxiety coiling inside my chest. I hated not being able to play. I wished my surgery were today, so I could be one day ahead in getting back to playing. Football anchored my life and kept me sane. Without it, I was restless and out of sorts.
Alex turned, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter. “Maybe you can’t help yourself, but Dr. Bowen doesn’t strike me as your type. Let her do what she does best and fix your knee. You’ve plenty of women falling over themselves for you. It’s worse here than it was in London,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
“I’ll bloody well decide who I’m going to flirt with. You’re the one who should be enjoying the women here.”
I couldn’t help but feel a tad bit churlish. Alex knew me well, as well as anyone did. He might not specifically know I’d gone a step further than flirting with Olivia. He also might not specifically know I was gobsmacked over her. Yet, he’d know something was amiss with me. Hence, my churlishness. Alex was my best mate, but it didn’t mean I always appreciated how well he knew me. I preferred to feel in control, and everything about my life lately led to the opposite between my mum dying, moving to Seattle, and now having my knee blown. What I’d expected to be a moment when I was in control turned out to be the opposite. That kiss with Olivia had, well, it had blown my mind. All I wanted was more.
Chapter 4
Olivia
I tugged the front of my raincoat together and dashed through the heavy drizzle. Once I was across the street, I pushed through the swinging door into Desert Isle Café. I flung my hood back and gave my coat a shake before glancing around. My glasses immediately fogged from the contrasting warm air, creating a blurry halo. Removing them, I dried them on the bottom of my shirt and slipped them back on. The scent of baked goods and coffee assailed me.
“Olivia, over here!”
I looked around to see my best friend Daisy Knight waving from a table in the corner. I returned her wave and headed for the counter. I was cold straight through from my walk here and needed coffee to warm me up. Moments later, I threaded through the tables in the crowded coffee shop and slipped into the chair across from Daisy. I’d known Daisy since we were in first grade. She glanced up from whatever she was doing on her laptop and grinned, her smile wide and welcoming. Daisy was like her name—cheery and warm with a whimsical side. With her blonde hair, dark brown eyes and curvaceous figure, she was plain gorgeous and also one of the kindest people I knew. Daisy and I had gone to medical school together, although she’d gone into medical research, while I’d gone into surgery. No matter how busy we were, we had a standing coffee date every week. Desert Isle Café was our favorite place for coffee, named as a shake of the fist to Seattle’s rainy weather and a metaphorical oasis on a rainy day.
Daisy saved whatever she was working on and closed her laptop, sliding it into its padded shoulder bag, before turning her gaze to me. “Hey, hey, what’s up?”
I curled my hands around the steaming hot mug of coffee, sighing at the warmth. “Aside from the fact I’m freezing, nothing new.”
Daisy took a sip of her own coffee, her perceptive brown gaze coasting over me. “Let me guess, you didn’t bother to check the weather and wore just your scrubs. Thank God, I don’t have to wear those everyday for research.”
I laughed softly. Daisy knew me well. I worked long hours and rarely bothered to manage the logistics of my life. “There’s never anything new with me,” I countered with a roll of my eyes. The moment the words left my mouth, I thought of Liam’s kiss yesterday and heat raced up my cheeks.
Daisy cocked her head to the side. “What are you blushing about?”
I took a gulp of my coffee and glared at her. “Nothing.”
She shrugged. I breathed an internal sigh of relief, thinking she was going to drop it. I should’ve known better. Daisy had an unerring ability to know what might be getting under my skin.
“What’s this I hear about Liam Reed? Sports news says you’re in charge of fixing his blown knee,” Daisy said with a sly smile.
I leaned back in my chair and fought to keep my face from turning even redder. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Is that actually news?”
“Of course it’s news. He’s a hot soccer star from Britain. He’s not just famous here hon, but everywhere.” She must’ve taken a tiny bit of pity on me at the look on my face and shook her head slowly. “I heard about it on the sports radio on the way into work this morning. The radio guys spent like twenty minutes discussing his injury. I’ll never understand why some guy who plays ball gets more time on the news than things like poverty, but hey, that’s our world. Anyway, they said he’d been assigned to Dr. Bowen at your clinic. Pretty sure that’s you.”
I took another gulp of coffee followed with a deep breath. Usually I didn’t even think about the pressure of operat
ing on athletes, but the way Liam rattled me was shaking my composure at all levels. “Obviously it’s me. It’s not like I can talk about it,” I mumbled, knowing perfectly well the clinic had already obtained a full disclosure for Liam and the team. That’s how it worked there. If famous sports stars wanted their potentially career-ending injuries turned around under the scalpel of any surgeon at the clinic, they had to be willing to sign releases for updates on their recovery. I rarely discussed anything, except in cases when I was asked to make public statements about recovery times and whatnot.
Daisy was quite aware of this as well and merely rolled her eyes. “I don’t give a damn about his knee. I’m just wondering how come you can’t stop blushing.”
If anyone could keep me from losing my mind over Liam, it would be Daisy. She was my dearest friend, the only friend I had who’d been there before my parents died. When I was ten years old, my parents died together in a car accident on their way to a holiday party. To this day, I hated the holidays. My mom’s twin sister Lorraine had raised me after that. She was loving and kind, but she’d been as lost as I had been after my parents died. She and my mother had been quite close as twins. Lorraine lived in the small town Daisy and I grew up in a short drive outside of Seattle. Aside from Daisy and a few other friends, she was really the only other person in my life whom I stayed close with. I was what most people called an introvert. I didn’t know if I’d been that way before my parents died. Daisy insisted I’d been a bit less standoffish. Either way, getting close to people wasn’t the easiest thing for me.
I looked over at Daisy and blushed even deeper at the twinkle in her eyes. “I’m blushing because Liam Reed seems to think he can make a move on me. I don’t know what the hell to do about it,” I blurted out.
Daisy’s eyes widened, and I experienced a flash of satisfaction at actually startling her. She quickly recovered and grinned. “Well, it’s about damn time. You are flat out gorgeous. I’d bet plenty of your patients want to get in your pants. Nice to know the hottest ticket in town has the sense to notice how amazing you are.”
I put my hands on my cheeks, as if I could somehow cool the heat. “Are you insane?!”
Daisy shrugged. “Definitely not. He’ll do great things for your career. Make his knee good as new and then screw his brains out. Maybe you’ll have fun for once in your life.”
I stared at her, torn between the warring factions inside of me. There was the usual side of me that wanted to tell her she was seriously out of her mind. Then, there was this new, foreign side that thought screwing Liam’s brains out might be the best thing I ever did. Just the thought of it sent heat scoring through my center and a throb in my channel. Sex is boring. Remember? It’s not like you haven’t tried it before. Maybe so, but not with Liam. One kiss from him was all kinds of amazing. If I could have slapped the voice inside my head, I would’ve. This was madness, plain and simple. I latched onto the part of me I knew better.
“I don’t need to have fun. Most certainly not with a high-profile patient,” I said defensively.
Daisy rolled her eyes. “You need to loosen up is what you need. I’ve seen his photos. Liam Reed is all kinds of sexy. Most women would get off just seeing him naked. As for him being your patient…after the surgery, hon,” she said with a sly wink.
I balled up a napkin and threw it at her where it bounced off her shoulder and landed on the table between us. “Would you stop it?! It’s crazy and you know it. Plus, you know how I feel about sex. I’d bet sex with an arrogant sports star is about as boring as it gets.”
I was rewarded with another eye roll from Daisy. “It’s not like you gave it much of a shot. You dated what, maybe three guys in college? You should try again.”
Daisy was the opposite of me when it came to dating. She was on the hunt for the perfect guy and wasn’t the least bit shy about it. I knew behind her bravado there was a soft side and a warm heart, so sometimes I worried about her boldness. Mostly, it puzzled me because I sincerely had found sex to be boring, boring enough I hadn’t thought it worth the effort to cast around. Maybe it was a stroke of bad, boring luck for me. They weren’t bad guys, just nothing revved my engine. I held Daisy’s gaze and shrugged. “Don’t really have time and you know it.”
Daisy shook her head. At that moment, the bell jingled above the door to the café. Reflexively, I glanced over and my pulse took off. Liam walked through the door with the man who’d been in the waiting room with him yesterday. I barely noticed the guy with my eyes nearly devouring Liam. Liam’s dark hair was damp from the rain. He hadn’t bothered with a raincoat, and his slightly damp, long-sleeved t-shirt clung to his muscled shoulders. I didn’t know how it was possible, but even with a subtle limp, the man was so damn sexy he took my breath away. He turned, his eyes catching mine from across the room and sending flutters in a spin through my belly.
Daisy’s giggle had me tearing my eyes off of him. I turned back to her. If I thought I’d blushed before, now it was worse, way worse. I felt like I was on fire inside and out.
Chapter 5
Liam
The moment I stepped into the coffee shop, I knew Olivia was there. A prickle raced up my spine. I ran a hand over my damp hair and turned slowly, finding her in the corner at a table with another woman. Olivia’s eyes locked to mine for a flash. Even from across the busy room, I could feel her presence. It was as if a flame licked its way through the air across the room. She tore her eyes free the moment I started to smile. Bloody hell, that woman set a storm brewing inside me.
Alex nudged my shoulder. “Move it, mate. You’re staring.”
I glanced his way and met his knowing gaze. With a shrug, I made my way to the counter behind him. Alex had dragged me here this morning after practice was cut short due to the rain. The team often practiced inside as it was, yet Coach sent everyone home to study tapes. Coach Bernie had ordered me to observe practice today and given me hell for skipping the day prior. I’d protested that I was scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning, but he’d merely locked his sharp blue gaze on me and arched a brow. He didn’t expect me to actually practice, but he fully expected me to watch from the sidelines and participate in planning with the team.
Despite my disgruntled state about being shipped clear across the pond to the US and all the way to its West Coast, I liked Coach Bernie. In fact, in the short time I’d been playing under him, he’d become my favorite coach. He was sharp as a tack and tough, but not a bloody arse. The man was rock solid confident without a drop of arrogance. I respected the hell out of him. Bernard Hoffman had been a hella footballer back in his heyday roughly fifteen years ago. He’d retired after sustaining far too many injuries in a car accident, an accident that killed his wife. He’d yet to speak a word to me about my mum, but I sensed he knew the loss was affecting me and understood it better than most. Unlike some coaches, I knew he wouldn’t push me to play too soon after my injury, but he’d bloody well expect me to be active on the sidelines and be studying tapes like a madman until I was back in action.
After Coach set us free a bit ago, Alex insisted he needed coffee before we trudged through the rain to spend an afternoon watching tapes. London was famous for its dreary weather, yet I was fairly certain Seattle had it beat. If it wasn’t raining a slow drizzle most days, the sky was usually overcast. I looked around while we waited for our coffees and ignored the two women trying to flirt with us. Alex was the master at ignoring flirts. He simply leaned a shoulder against the wall, slipped his hands in his pockets and stayed quiet. I wasn’t accustomed to wanting to ignore a little fun banter. I’d freely admit I considered it a bonus perk of being a famous footballer—woman all over the world knew who I was and lavished attention on me. Yet right now, it made me restless and annoyed. I resorted to pulling my phone out of my pocket and staring aimlessly at it. All the while, I beat back the urge to walk over and say hello to Olivia.
When our names were called, Alex snagged our coffees and returned to my side. His
eyes flicked from me past my shoulder where Olivia was sitting. “Alright mate, you’d best say hi to your doctor. Won’t do to ignore her,” he said with a wink.
I slipped my phone in my pocket and took the cup of coffee he held out, refusing to be baited by his wink. A gulp and then I nodded. “Right then.”
A few steps later, I stopped beside Olivia. Those bright green eyes of hers landed on mine, and awareness sliced through me. Rather than the usual subtle thrill I got from being drawn to a woman, the two times I’d gotten near Olivia, the pull was so strong it startled me. It wasn’t a simple thrill, it was pure, raw need. She adjusted her glasses with a tight smile. “Hello, Liam.”
Over the pounding of my heart, I managed a nod and scrambled to grab hold of my usual smooth banter. “Nice to see you, luv…once before I go under your knife.” There. My teasing habits helped. Her cheeks flushed rosy red, and all I wanted was to kiss her.
The woman with Olivia smiled brightly, her eyes bouncing from Alex to me. “Well, it’s the Brit boys playing for Seattle. So nice to meet you two.”
I managed to tear my eyes away from Olivia. The woman across from her would normally have caught my attention, what with her blonde hair tied back in a sleek knot, her wide brown eyes and a curvy little body sheathed in a fitted blouse and skirt. Yet, I might as well have been staring at a blank wall for all my body noticed her. Alex, who hated the attention that came with being a world-class footballer, flushed just the slightest bit. If I hadn’t known him my whole life, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. He shifted his shoulders and took a swallow of coffee. When the woman with Olivia arched a brow, I realized neither one of us had bothered to reply. “Right you are. Liam Reed,” I said with a practiced flourish and a nod. “This here is Alex Gordon. He rarely speaks, but he plays like a dream.” That was my usual intro to Alex, which tended to annoy him enough he stopped being silent.